A/N: IM SORRY IM SORRY I KNOW ITS BEEN ALMOST A YEAR AND IM THE WORST PLEASE DONT HATE ME. I have an official outline of the rest of this fic so hopefully I'll get a lot better at updating (*gets struck by lightning who are we kidding*). Anyway, here's the next chapter, I hope you guys like it. I'll try to update soon, I swear! Please review!

Also imma not reply to reviews so we can get right to it. Sorry not sorry.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OCs.

Chapter Seventeen

Things were crazy for the next couple days, but Nico tried.

Tried to help Adrianne get back on her feet.

(Tried to resist the urge to tell her he'd spoken to her father's ghost).

Tried to help his father convince Dionysus to heal Hazel.

(Tried to keep from going to the God and demanding it himself).

Tried to keep up his ruse of being human without leaving his demigod friends out of the loop.

(Gave up on trying to learn those gods-forsaken Trouble lyrics).

Tried, tried, tried not to let Percy find out about the third Great Prophecy looming over their heads.

(While simultaneously trying not to let himself freak out too much about it).

For days, Nico tried, but none of the things he tried were really working.

And his friends were starting to notice.

Since the death of Adrianne's dad, Jeannine, Kerri, Tricia, and Helena had refused to leave her side, and Nico often joined them. Despite Adrianne's insistence that- for the most part- she was fine, they sat in her room every day after play rehearsal and did their homework together, only leaving when it got so late Adrianne's mom physically kicked them out. Nico sometimes stayed even longer.

It was on one of those days, when they were all congregated in Adrianne's apartment after school, after Nico had spent the majority of the day visiting Hazel at the hospital, and then had suffered through three hours of Marc Flamingo messing up his Shipoopi blocking, when his life finally managed to catch up with him.

"Hey!" Jeannine called to him, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Pay attention."

"Sorry," Nico muttered, dragging his mind back into the present.

He was curled up on the sill of Adrianne's bedroom window, observing the tableau of friends he'd witnessed times before- Helena smoking in Adrianne's desk chair, Kerri sprawled out on the floor, Tricia lying on her stomach on the bed with Adrianne sitting up against the headboard next to her- and Jeannine, as usual, was pacing.

"Look, di Angelo, if you don't want to be here, you're free to leave," she lectured without looking up from the trench she was making in the floor. "But this is your future we're discussing here."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, okay, I'm listening. But I wasn't at all before, so what are we talking about?"

Jeannine glared at him as the other girls snickered. "The spring formal," Adrianne explained, smiling sheepishly. "Do you… Still want to go?"

Nico raised his eyebrows in surprise. "What, with you? That- that's still a thing that's happening?"

Tricia snorted. "Well, duh. That's kinda the whole reason we met you."

"W-well, yeah," Nico stuttered, glancing nervously at each of the girls before settling his gaze on Adrianne, who at most looked uncomfortable. "But isn't there someone else you'd rather go with?"

Adrianne shrugged. "I mean, not really. I refuse to go with Marc again, despite the fact that he asks me everyday."

Nico shifted nervously, racking his brain for a way out of this- yet another problem in his life. "Well, uh, what about… What's-his-name? Understudy boy?"

Adrianne frowned. "Vinny?"

"Yeah, him!" Nico said. "He's not… Horrible-looking."

Adrianne's friends voiced their agreement.

"I don't know…" Adrianne said. "He's kinda… Conceited."

"A, you're in high school," Nico pointed out. "You're not gonna find a boy who's not."

Adrianne raised an eyebrow. "You're not."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah, but I'm-... That's not the point."

Adrianne scoffed, crossing her arms indignantly across her chest. "Do you not want to go with me?"

No, I really don't, Nico thought, but forced himself to say, "I don't not want to go with you, I just… I think you might have more fun if you went with any- someone else."

He bit his lip, praying that maybe that had actually worked. Adrianne just kept her gaze locked on his, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

The tension was broken when Jeannine stepped in between them, breaking their line of sight. She waved behind her at Nico, promising Adrianne, "We'll work on him," before quickly changing the subject. "Anyway, next question, what are you going to wear?"

Nico zoned out again, sinking back into his thoughts as he once again debated the pros and cons of telling Adrianne the truth.

Because at least "I don't want to date you because you're my sister" was a viable excuse.

"Hey, Nico," a voice called just as Nico was leaving Adrianne's apartment that night.

He turned, and was mildly surprised to see Jeannine coming towards him. Adrianne's best friend, he'd noticed over the last few weeks, was one of those people who was a lot nicer to Nico when they were alone.

"What's up…?" Nico asked hesitantly.

Jeannine caught up with him and bit her lip thoughtfully for a moment, before saying, "I just wanted to apologize, about the whole dance thing. No one, especially A, wants to make you uncomfortable."

Nico shrugged. "Yeah, J, I know. It's fine, don't worry about it."

Jeannine nodded slowly, looking unconvinced. "Right. Well, also, just… Look, I know you've got a lot going on right now, but… Just keep in mind that the most important thing is making sure A's happy."

Nico frowned. "Yeah, I know. But… How did you know I had a lot going on?"

Jeannine hesitated, biting her lip nervously, then said, "Because I know Adrianne's Bianca."

Nico's hand flew to his sword, but before he could successfully draw it, Jeannine had unclasped the silver necklace she was wearing. As soon as she removed it from her neck, Nico was hit with her aura- strong, powerful, and definitely not human.

He slowly let go of his sword hilt as he realized, "You're a demigod."

"Not just a demigod," Jeannine said sheepishly. "I'm your sister."

A/N: Hope you liked it. I'll try to update soon. Please review!